Ada Vox will headline the 2018 Night of Stars in September.
Officials with the Greg Dollgener Memorial AIDS Fund and Team Metro today announced that Ada Vox, the singer/drag queen from San Antonio who was a top eight finalist this year on American Idol, will be headlining the annual Night of Stars fundraising show, set for Saturday, Sept. 8, at The Rose Room inside S4, 3911 Cedar Springs Road.
The event is presented by Team Metro and GDMAF for LifeWalk, the annual walkathon set this year for Oct. 7 and sponsored by Prism Health North Texas to raise funds for North Texas HIV/AIDS service organizations.
GDMAF Executive Director David Hearn said that Ada Vox, in her first performance in Dallas, will be joined by a stellar lineup of local performers. A complete list of entertainers will be posted at GDMAd.org/NighOfStars beginning Friday, July 27.
A limited number of general admission tickets, VIP tickets and VIP sponsorship packages will be available in advance online at GDMAF.org/NightOfStars, also beginning Friday. Ticket prices start at $30.
Sponsors already on board include Caven Enterprises, S4 Rose Room, AHF Pharmacy, On The Border, Omni Hotels, Divas & DJs and Dallas Voice.
Ada Vox
Ada Vox first auditioned for American Idol in 2013, when she was known as Adam Sanders. In one of his Season 12 performances, he got a standing ovation from three of the four judges with his rendition of Etta James’s “I’d Rather Go Blind,” but Adam was still eliminated after Hollywood week.
Sanders said that after he appeared on American Idol the first time, he started getting threats on social media, with people attacking “my weight, my sexuality, telling me that I was horrible, that I sucked, that I don’t deserve to be here, that I shouldn’t be who I am. And I let it get to me in a wrong way. It killed me inside. It killed me inside almost as much as people were telling me that I should kill myself. I was contemplating lots of things that I shouldn’t have.”
But when he heard the show was coming back to ABC this year, Sanders decided to audition again — only this time, he was auditioning as his alter ego Ada Vox. He said, “I was an OK singer then [in 2012]. I was. But I’m a hundred times better now than I ever was then. I’m vocally better; I’m a better performer; I’m a better entertainer; I’m more prepared as an adult now to take on the challenges that come with a competition like this.”
Adam Sanders, 24, is a San Antonio native and a graduate of the University of Texas. And now, Ada Vox has made history as the first drag queen to make it to AI’s Top 8.
Team Metro
Team Metro consists entirely of volunteers, including the GDMAF board members, all coming together to raise awareness and funds for the annual LifeWalk Dallas event in October. In 2017, Team Metro raised $27,475 of the overall total of $420,744. This year, Team Metro has set a goal of $27,000.
For more information about Team Metro, to make a donation to the team or a team member, or to join the team, visit the LifeWalk Dallas website and search for Team Metro.
GDMAF
The Greg Dollgener Memorial AIDS fund is the presenting organization of Team Metro and Night of Stars. It is a North Texas-based 501(c)(3) organization founded in 1996 to help meet emergency needs of individuals living with HIV/AIDS that are unable to receive other social services or emergency assistance. In addition to individuals, GDMAF provides financial support to other North Texas programs once their primary funding is exhausted. For information visit here.
